JP2011214123A - Film deposition apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a film deposition apparatus for bringing the orientation azimuth angle of a columnar structure formed on a substrate surface close to a uniform value by a relatively simple method.SOLUTION: The film deposition apparatus 1 includes a film material source 14 for feeding a film material constituting a film to be deposited on a substrate 200, a vacuum tank 11 which regulates a space 11a for installing the film material source and the substrate, and maintains the space in a vacuum state, a holding means 121 for holding the substrate so that at least a part of the substrate faces at least a part of the film material source in the space, a moving means 123 for moving the holding means so that the substrate is moved along one direction, and a slit sheet 122 which is arranged between the substrate and the film material source, and has an aperture 122a extending along another direction across one direction. An end of the aperture is deviated within a plane of the slit sheet to suppress expansion of the angular distribution in the other direction of the film material passing through the aperture from the other direction.

Description

The present invention relates to a technical field of a film forming apparatus capable of forming a film on a substrate by, for example, oblique vapor deposition or high rate sputtering.

In this type of apparatus, for example, the orientation azimuth angle of a columnar structure formed on a substrate surface can be made closer to uniform. For example, Patent Documents 1 to 3 describe an apparatus in which a slit through which vapor of a vapor deposition material can flow is disposed between a vapor deposition source and a substrate as a vapor deposition material. Alternatively, Patent Document 4 describes an apparatus in which a movable slit plate is disposed between a vapor deposition source and a substrate support that can rotate the substrate. In particular, there is described a technique for making the deposition angle uniform in the substrate surface by simultaneously performing the movement control of the slit plate and the incident angle control of the deposition material by controlling the rotation angle of the substrate support.

JP 2003-129225 A JP 2003-129228 A JP 2006-350323 A JP 2007-277645 A

However, in the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 to 3, when the substrate is enlarged,
For example, there is a technical problem that it becomes difficult to make the orientation azimuth of a columnar structure formed on a substrate surface close to uniform. The technique described in Patent Document 4 has a technical problem that the control of the apparatus becomes relatively complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, for example, and by a relatively simple method,
It is an object of the present invention to propose a film forming apparatus capable of making the orientation azimuth of a columnar structure formed on a substrate surface close to uniform.

In order to solve the above problems, a film forming apparatus of the present invention includes a film material source for supplying a film material constituting a film formed on a substrate, and a space for installing the film material source and the substrate. A vacuum chamber capable of maintaining the space in a vacuum, and holding means for holding the substrate in the space so that at least a part of the substrate faces at least a part of the film material source And a moving means for moving the holding means so that the substrate moves along one direction, and another direction that is arranged between the substrate and the film material source and intersects the one direction. A slit plate having an opening extending along the edge, and the end of the opening is in the other direction of the film material passing through the opening in the plane of the slit plate. The spread of the angular distribution of It is shifted in the direction.

According to the film forming apparatus of the present invention, the film material source supplies the film material constituting the film formed on the substrate. Specifically, the film material source is, for example, a vapor deposition source or a sputtering target.
The “film material source” according to the present invention is typically a point source.

The vacuum chamber defines a space for installing the film material source and the substrate, and can maintain the space in a vacuum. Here, the “vacuum tank” is a concept representing a box such as a chamber, for example. As long as such a concept is secured, the shape and material of the vacuum chamber are not limited. In addition, as a constituent material of the vacuum chamber, in view of mechanical, physical and chemical stability,
For example, it is desirable to use metal materials, steel materials, glass materials, ceramics or ceramic materials.

“Vacuum” is a concept encompassing the state of a space filled with a gas having a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure. Preferably, the film quality when the film is formed on the substrate is included in the air atmosphere. This refers to the state of the space reduced from atmospheric pressure to such an extent that impurities such as oxygen and nitrogen do not affect. In addition, the structure of the exhaust mechanism, exhaust apparatus, or exhaust system for creating such a vacuum is not limited as long as the vacuum can be created. For example, the vacuum state may be created by a rotary pump, a mechanical booster pump, an oil diffusion pump, a turbo molecular pump, or the like. Alternatively, a vacuum may be created by using these in combination as a preliminary exhaust system and a main exhaust system in view of the exhaust characteristics thereof.

“Maintaining a vacuum” means that the amount of gas exhausted by such an exhaust system and the amount of gas leakage (ie, the amount of leakage) in the vacuum chamber cancel each other, and can be regarded as constant or constant. It is a concept including a state where a stable vacuum degree is reached.

The holding means holds the substrate in the space so that at least a part of the substrate faces at least a part of the film material source. Here, “facing” does not only indicate that they are facing each other, but the substrate is installed with a certain inclination with respect to the film material source or the flight direction of the film material (for example, the deposition direction). Is also a good idea. The “holding means” according to the present invention is not limited in any way as long as it can hold the substrate such that at least a part of the substrate and the film material source face each other.

The moving means moves the holding means so that the substrate moves along one direction. That is, the moving means moves the substrate and the holding means as a single unit so that the substrate moves along one direction.

The slit plate is disposed between the substrate and the film material source, and has an opening extending along another direction that intersects the one direction. The film material released from the film material source is shielded by the slit plate without reaching the substrate except for the material that passes through the opening formed in the slit plate. On the other hand, the film material that has passed through the opening reaches the surface of the substrate at an incident angle within a predetermined range defined by the relative positional relationship between the substrate and the opening to form a film.

Here, the “other direction” typically means a direction in which an angle formed by a straight line extending in one direction and a straight line extending in the other direction approaches 90 degrees. Specifically, for example, the “other direction” is a tangential direction of the circumference centering on the film material source as viewed in plan on the film forming apparatus.

“Extending along another direction” means that the longitudinal direction of the opening is not limited to being parallel to the other direction, and the longitudinal direction of the opening is practically along the other direction. In the range which can be considered, it may include the case where it is shifted by a little more or less from other directions.

In the present invention, in particular, the end of the opening is displaced from the other direction in the plane of the slit plate in a direction that suppresses the spread of the angular distribution in the other direction of the film material passing through the opening. Here, “the direction in which the spread of the angular distribution in the other direction of the film material passing through the opening is suppressed” means the straight line connecting the film material source and the end of the opening, the center of the opening, and the opening. This is the direction in which the angle formed by the straight line connecting the end portions becomes smaller (that is, approaches 0 degree).

According to the inventor's research, the following matters have been found. That is, from the viewpoint of improving production efficiency, a method is often employed in which a plurality of devices such as liquid crystal devices are formed on a relatively large substrate at once and then divided into individual devices. In this case, when an attempt is made to form a film on the substrate by, for example, oblique vapor deposition or high-rate sputtering, the orientation azimuth and film thickness of the columnar structure vary depending on the location on the substrate. This is because the film material reaching the substrate has an angular distribution in the longitudinal direction of the opening of the slit plate due to the film material source being a point source. And the said variation becomes so remarkable that a board | substrate becomes large. Here, when the film formed on the substrate is, for example, an alignment film of a liquid crystal device, the pretilt angle of the liquid crystal molecules may vary due to the variation. Then, the quality of the display image of the liquid crystal device may be deteriorated.

However, in the present invention, as described above, the end portion of the opening portion extends from the other direction in the other direction of the film material passing through the opening portion (that is, the longitudinal direction of the opening portion) in the plane of the slit plate. It is configured to deviate in a direction that suppresses the spread of the angular distribution. For this reason, the variation in the orientation azimuth angle of the columnar structure formed on the substrate can be suppressed. Therefore, according to the film forming apparatus of the present invention, the orientation azimuth angle of the columnar structure formed on the substrate can be made uniform by a relatively simple method of devising the shape of the opening of the slit plate. .

Note that if the width of the opening becomes wider from the center of the opening toward the end of the opening, variations in the film thickness of the film formed on the substrate can be suppressed. It is very advantageous for practical use. Further, if a plurality of openings are formed in the slit plate, the film formation rate can be improved. Alternatively, when a plurality of openings are formed in the slit plate and the width of the plurality of openings is made relatively narrow, the film formation accuracy can be improved without reducing the film formation rate.

  The effect | action and other gain of this invention are clarified from the form for implementing demonstrated below.

It is the top view which looked at the liquid crystal device concerning the embodiment of the present invention from the counter substrate side with each component formed on the TFT array substrate. It is the HH 'sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of the vacuum evaporation system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the movement of the board | substrate which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram for demonstrating the shape of the opening part opened by the slit board which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the modification of the opening part opened by the slit board which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the shape of the opening part opened by the slit board which concerns on the 1st modification of embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the shape of the opening part opened by the slit board which concerns on the 2nd modification of embodiment of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a film forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following drawings, the scale of each layer / member is made different so that each layer / member can be recognized on the drawing.

(Liquid crystal device)
First, an embodiment of a liquid crystal device including an inorganic alignment film formed by a film forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, an active matrix driving type liquid crystal device with a built-in driving circuit is taken as an example of the liquid crystal device.

The overall configuration of the liquid crystal device according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows a liquid crystal device according to the present embodiment, which is a TFT (Thin Film Transisto).
r) FIG. 2 is a plan view seen from the side of the counter substrate together with each component formed on the array substrate, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line HH ′ of FIG.

1 and 2, in the liquid crystal device 100 according to the present embodiment, the TFT array substrate 10
The counter substrate 20 is disposed to face the counter substrate 20. The TFT array substrate 10 is, for example, a quartz substrate,
The counter substrate 20 is made of a substrate such as a quartz substrate or a glass substrate. A liquid crystal layer 50 is sealed between the TFT array substrate 10 and the counter substrate 20, and the TFT array substrate 10 and the counter substrate 20 are sealed by a sealing material 52 provided in a seal region located around the image display region 10a. They are glued together.

The sealing material 52 is, for example, an ultraviolet curable resin or a thermosetting resin for bonding both substrates.
Alternatively, it is made of a UV / heat combination type curable resin, and the TFT array substrate 10 in the manufacturing process.
After being applied on top, it is cured by ultraviolet irradiation, heating, or the like. Sealing material 52
Inside, a gap material such as glass fiber or glass beads for dispersing the distance (that is, the gap) between the TFT array substrate 10 and the counter substrate 20 to a predetermined value is dispersed. In addition to or instead of the gap material mixed in the sealing material 52, the image display region 10a is used.
Or you may make it arrange | position to the peripheral area located in the periphery of the image display area 10a.

In FIG. 1, a light-shielding frame light-shielding film 53 that defines the image display region 10 a is provided on the counter substrate 20 side in parallel with the inside of the seal region where the sealing material 52 is disposed. However,
A part or all of the frame light shielding film 53 may be provided as a built-in light shielding film on the TFT array substrate 10 side.

A data line driving circuit 101 and an external circuit connection terminal 102 are provided along one side of the TFT array substrate 10 in a region located outside the sealing region in which the sealing material 52 is disposed in the peripheral region. The sampling circuit 7 is provided so as to be covered with the frame light shielding film 53 on the inner side of the seal region along the one side. The scanning line driving circuit 104 is provided in a frame area inside the seal area along two sides adjacent to the one side so as to be covered with the frame light shielding film 53.

On the TFT array substrate 10, vertical conduction terminals 106 for connecting the two substrates with the vertical conduction material 107 are arranged in regions facing the four corner portions of the counter substrate 20. Thus, electrical conduction can be established between the TFT array substrate 10 and the counter substrate 20. Further, an external circuit connection terminal 102, a data line driving circuit 101, and a scanning line driving circuit 104.
A lead wiring 90 for electrically connecting the vertical conduction terminal 106 and the like is formed.

In FIG. 2, on the TFT array substrate 10, a laminated structure in which wirings such as pixel switching transistors, scanning lines, and data lines as drive elements are formed is formed. The detailed structure of this laminated structure is not shown in FIG. 2, but the IT
A pixel electrode 9a including O (Indium Tin Oxide) is formed in an island shape with a predetermined pattern for each pixel.

The pixel electrode 9a is formed in the image display region 10a on the TFT array substrate 10 so as to face a counter electrode 21 described later. On the surface of the TFT array substrate 10 facing the liquid crystal layer 50, that is, on the pixel electrode 9a, an alignment film 16 is formed so as to cover the pixel electrode 9a. The alignment film 16 and the alignment film 22 described later are inorganic alignment films formed by oblique vapor deposition or high rate sputtering.

A light shielding film 23 is formed on the surface of the counter substrate 20 facing the TFT array substrate 10. For example, the light shielding film 23 is formed in a lattice shape when viewed in plan on the facing surface of the facing substrate 20. In the counter substrate 20, a non-opening area is defined by the light shielding film 23, and an area partitioned by the light shielding film 23 is an opening area that transmits light emitted from, for example, a projector lamp or a direct viewing backlight. The light shielding film 23 may be formed in a stripe shape, and the non-opening region may be defined by the light shielding film 23 and various components such as data lines provided on the TFT array substrate 10 side.

On the light shielding film 23, a counter electrode 21 containing ITO is formed to face the plurality of pixel electrodes 9a. In order to perform color display on the light shielding film 23 in the image display region 10a,
A color filter (not shown in FIG. 2) may be formed in a region including a part of the opening region and the non-opening region. An alignment film 22 is formed on the counter electrode 21 on the counter surface of the counter substrate 20.

The data line driving circuit 1 is provided on the TFT array substrate 10 shown in FIGS.
01, a scanning line driving circuit 104, a sampling circuit 7, and the like, a precharge circuit for supplying a precharge signal of a predetermined voltage level to a plurality of data lines in advance of an image signal, and the liquid crystal in the middle of manufacture or at the time of shipment You may form the inspection circuit etc. for inspecting the quality of a device, a defect, etc.

(Film forming equipment)
Next, an embodiment of a film forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the present embodiment, a vacuum deposition apparatus is taken as an example of the film forming apparatus.

The overall configuration of the vacuum evaporation apparatus according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the vacuum vapor deposition apparatus according to the present embodiment.

In FIG. 3, the vacuum deposition apparatus 1 includes a chamber 11, a substrate unit 12, a support member 13,
A vapor deposition source 14 and a control unit 15 are provided.

The chamber 11 defines a space 11 a for installing the substrate unit 12 and the vapor deposition source 14. The chamber 11 is connected to an exhaust system (not shown) such as a rotary pump, and the space 11a is maintained in a vacuum by exhausting the gas in the space 11a by the exhaust system.

The substrate unit 12 includes a substrate holding member 121 that holds the large substrate 200, and a large substrate 200.
An opening 1 that is disposed on the side facing the vapor deposition source 14 and through which the evaporated substance evaporated from the vapor deposition source passes.
The slit plate 122 with 22a opened and the actuator 123 that can move the substrate holding member 121 are provided.

The vapor deposition source 14 is, for example, a crucible (not shown) that holds an inorganic material such as SiO or SiO ₂ .
And an electron gun (not shown). In operation, the inorganic material in the crucible is heated by the electron beam emitted from the electron gun to evaporate the inorganic material.

The control unit 15 controls the vapor deposition source 14 when forming the vapor deposition film on the substrate 200, and
The actuator 123 is controlled to move the substrate holding member 121.

The “chamber 11”, “deposition source 14”, “substrate holding member 121” according to the present embodiment,
“Actuator 123”, “Large substrate 200” and “Inorganic material” are respectively “Vacuum chamber”, “Film material source”, “Holding means”, “Moving means”, “Substrate” and “Membrane” according to the present invention. It is an example of “material”.

Next, the movement of the large substrate 200 (that is, the substrate holding member 121) when forming the vapor deposition film as an example of the “film” according to the present invention on the large substrate 200 will be described with reference to FIG. explain. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing the movement of the substrate according to the present embodiment.

For example, after the pixel electrode 9a (see FIG. 2) is formed in each of the regions of the large substrate 200 to be the plurality of TFT array substrates 10 through a predetermined manufacturing process, or after the large substrate 20
Through the predetermined manufacturing process, each of the regions to be the plurality of zero counter substrates 20 is subjected to a counter electrode 21.
After the formation (see FIG. 2), the large substrate 200 is fixed to the substrate holding member 121.

Next, after the gas in the chamber 11 is exhausted by the exhaust system and reaches a predetermined degree of vacuum,
The control unit 15 controls the vapor deposition source 14 and the substrate holding member 121 (that is, the large substrate 20).
4), the actuator 123 is controlled so as to reciprocate along the Z-axis direction with respect to the slit plate 122, as indicated by an arrow a in FIG.

At this time, the vapor deposition material (inorganic material) flying from the vapor deposition source 14 passes through the opening 122a,
By reaching the surface of the large substrate 200 at an incident angle within a predetermined range defined by the relative positional relationship between the large substrate 200 and the opening 122a, a deposited film (here, the alignment film 16) is obtained.
Or 22) is formed.

The “Z-axis direction” according to the present embodiment is an example of “one direction” according to the present invention. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 4, the opening 122a of the slit plate 122 is “another direction” according to the present invention.
As an example, it extends along the X-axis direction.

Next, the opening 122a of the slit plate 122 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the shape of the opening opened in the slit plate according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 5, the shape of the opening 122a is a straight line a1 or a2 connecting the center O and the end of the opening 122a and a straight line b1 or b2 connecting the end of the vapor deposition source 14 and the opening 122a. The angle (for example, θ ₃ ) is opposite to the direction in which the angle distribution in the X-axis direction of the vapor deposition material reaching the large substrate 200 widens (that is, the direction in which the formed angle approaches 90 degrees) Corner is 0
(Direction approaching the degree).

In other words, the angle θ ₁ extends from the X-axis direction in the plane of the slit plate 122 to suppress the spread of the angular distribution of the vapor deposition material passing through the opening 122a in the X-axis direction. It is only shifted. Here, as shown in FIG. 5, the angle θ1 is an angle formed by the straight line a1 and the straight line x1 along the X-axis direction.

Then, since the vapor deposition material incident perpendicularly to the straight line a1 or a2 passes through the opening 122a relatively much, the vapor deposition material reaches the large substrate 200 (that is, passes through the opening 122a) in the X-axis direction. The spread of the angular distribution can be suppressed. As a result, the large substrate 20
Variation in the orientation azimuth angle of the columnar structure constituting the vapor deposition film formed on 0 can be suppressed.

Note that the angle θ ₁ and the angle θ ₂ formed by the straight line b ₁ and the straight line z 1 along the Z-axis direction are preferably approximately the same, and more preferably the same.

In addition, the opening part opened by the slit board 122 is not restricted to the opening part 122a shown in FIG.4 and FIG.5, For example, the opening part 12 which has a shape bent only partially as shown to Fig.6 (a).
It may be an arcuate opening 122c as shown in 2b or FIG. 6 (b). FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing a modification of the opening opened in the slit plate according to the present embodiment.

<First Modification>
Next, the 1st modification concerning the film forming apparatus of this embodiment is demonstrated with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a view for explaining the shape of the opening opened in the slit plate according to the first modification of the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 7, the width of the opening 122d opened in the slit plate 122 according to the present modification is increased from the center of the opening 122d toward the end of the opening 122d. With this configuration, it is possible to suppress variations in the film formation rate between the vicinity of the center of the opening 122d and the vicinity of the end of the opening 122d. As a result, variations in the thickness of the deposited film formed on the large substrate 200 can be suppressed.

<Second Modification>
Next, the 2nd modification concerning the film forming apparatus of this embodiment is demonstrated with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a view for explaining the shape of the opening portion opened in the slit plate according to the second modification of the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 8, in this modification, a plurality of openings are opened in the slit plate 122. For example, as shown in FIG. 8A, if two relatively wide openings 122e are opened in the slit plate 122, the film formation rate can be improved. Or, for example, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, if two openings 122f having a relatively small width are opened in the slit plate 122, for example, compared with the slit plate 122 in which the opening 122a shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 5 is formed,
Film formation accuracy can be improved without reducing the film formation rate.

  In addition, the opening part opened to the slit board 122 is not restricted to two, You may be three or more.

In the embodiment, the vacuum deposition apparatus 1 is given as an example of the film forming apparatus according to the present invention. However, the present invention is not limited to the vacuum deposition apparatus 1 and can be applied to, for example, a sputtering apparatus equipped with a sputtering target. It is.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist or concept of the invention that can be read from the claims and the entire specification. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vacuum evaporation apparatus, 10 ... TFT array substrate, 11 ... Chamber, 12 ... Substrate unit,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 ... Support member, 14 ... Deposition source, 15 ... Control part, 20 ... Opposite substrate, 100 ... Liquid crystal device, 1
21 ... Substrate holding member, 122 ... Slit plate, 122a, 122b, 122c, 122d,
122e, 122f ... opening, 123 ... actuator, 200 ... large substrate

Claims (5)

A film material source for supplying a film material constituting the film formed on the substrate;
A vacuum chamber capable of defining a space for installing the film material source and the substrate and maintaining the space in a vacuum;
Holding means for holding the substrate such that at least a part of the substrate faces at least a part of the film material source in the space;
Moving means for moving the holding means so that the substrate moves along one direction;
A slit plate disposed between the substrate and the film material source and having an opening extending along another direction which is a direction intersecting the one direction;
The end of the opening is displaced from the other direction in the plane of the slit plate in a direction that suppresses the spread of the angular distribution of the film material passing through the opening in the other direction. A film forming apparatus. In the direction of suppressing the spread of the angular distribution, the angle formed by the straight line connecting the film material source and the end of the opening and the straight line connecting the center of the opening and the end of the opening is small. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the film forming apparatus is a direction. 3. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a width of the opening portion becomes wider from a center of the opening portion toward an end portion of the opening portion. The film forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the slit plate includes a plurality of the openings. The film material source is a vapor deposition source,
The said film | membrane is a vapor deposition film. The film forming apparatus as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 4 characterized by the above-mentioned.

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